Need
by link no miko
Summary: When Lee first met Sakura, all he had to go on was that she was beautiful and strong and fully alive in her own little Spring. [oneshot]


**Need**

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This was written a month or so ago for my friend's birthday, because there is serious lack of love for LeeSaku.

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Lee didn't know much about flowers. He knew they were pretty and smelled nice, knew that some could be bad for you and others good, and knew they bloomed in Spring (which, as everyone knows, is the best time of life, both literally and metaphorically).

And so when he first met his pretty pink flower, all he had to go on was that she was beautiful and strong and fully alive in her own little Spring.

He didn't realize there was much more to her than that until much later on (a fact he still regrets to this day, because one should never assume anything about a person until they've gotten to know them!).

He first began to realize she wasn't always beautiful when he found her crying at the training fields late one night, hidden behind one of the poles, knees tucked up against her chest and her face buried against them. Lee hadn't known what to do, what was wrong, how could he possibly comfort his beautiful pink flower? And she heard him and looked up and he stopped, because her eyes were puffy and red, her cheeks were spotty and there was a trickle of snot coming from her nose.

She tried to wipe her tears away, but he could still see them in the way they'd already marred her beauty. And she asked him what he wanted, why was he here, and he said he'd been training and heard someone crying. She just shrugged it off in that way he'd come to expect from her after their year-long acquaintance and stood, brushing the dust off her medic's smock. In the tone of voice she usually reserved for the absent Naruto, she told him she was fine and not to worry because there was nothing to worry about.

He didn't think it right to point out the scratched hitai-ate she clutched in shaking fingers.

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Lee had always admired her strength—both physical and emotional—and so while he had never understood it, he respected her love for Sasuke. After all, such a beautiful flower deserved someone else as beautiful as she. And so he loved her from afar, never shy to speak of his feelings but never truly believing she would accept them. Letting her know he loved her and would protect her was very different than trying to have feelings she would never hold returned to him.

And so when Uchiha Sasuke was brought back to the village, surrounded by various Jounin and led by Uzumaki Naruto, Lee was ready to watch his flower chase after a sun that would only burn her to ashes.

He never expected her to return the scratched hitai-ate to Naruto.

The blond looked at her, startled, but she just shook her head and walked up to the man she'd been chasing since she was old enough to notice him. Lee smiled sadly, because really she deserved so much better, but that she could follow her dream and grasp it so tightly…wasn't that what he himself had been fighting for his entire life as a ninja? And so he loved her all the more when she leaned up and kissed the dark-haired boy's cheek, saying something that no one else would ever be able to know.

And then she turned away.

She left after that, without a word to anyone else, and Lee followed her as everyone else watched the wayward ninja return home. She worked her way past the crowd, shoulders straight and head held high and Lee felt a burst of pride to see her so.

When they were far enough away from the crowd that Lee could no longer hear them, Sakura turned to face him, a broken smile on her lips and tears running down her cheeks. Lee smiled sadly and took a step forward, strangely hesitant, and she let him hug her as she cried against his chest. He held her tightly, moving his fingers gently through her hair, and let her cry in silence.

She apologised afterwards, of course. For losing her composure, for making a fool of herself, for being weak, for dirtying his jumpsuit, for everything she had no reason to apologise for. When he told her as much she simply shook her head and wiped the tears from her face.

And when he told her that he would always be there for her, that he would never find her weak or think she was a fool, and that she could come to him for anything because he loved her, she smiled and kissed his cheek before walking away.

He didn't miss her whispered "I know."

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They're not so young anymore. Years have left their mark in scars and wrinkles and eyes that no longer view the world in such a carefree way. Anbu came and went, teams and missions and death and love and heartache and joy. They're barely thirty and they've suffered so much, been through things no one as young as they should have, but he forgets it all when he sees her smile.

She's a full-fledged medic now and no longer takes missions. And while she enjoys meeting his genin teams, she doesn't like the way they tend to wreck the furniture or mock her cooking. He tells her that it's just their way of showing their youthful exuberance (they're still in the Springtime of their youth, after all!) and that they don't mean to be rude, but that her food takes a certain amount of time to adjust to. She tells him he's sleeping on the couch tonight.

He doesn't honestly know how it happened. One meeting, what seems forever ago, on a rain-soaked doorway in the middle of the night. A smile, a glance, the gentle touch of her fingers to his. All the things he'd never allowed himself to think he'd find with her. And even though they fight occasionally and she makes him sleep on the couch, and they both have memories they only want to forget, and she still smiles fondly whenever her first love is mentioned, she still chose him.

There's nothing else he needs.


End file.
